And horace l



(No Model.) 7 3 Sheets-Sheet 1. R. W. SMITH 8n H. L. ARNOLD.

BOOK BINDERS MACHINE. No. 449,595. Patented Mar. 31,1891.

(No Model.)

3 Sheets-Sheet 2 R. W. SMITH,& H. L. ARNOLD.

BOOK BINDERS MACHINE.

No. 449,595. Patented Mar, 31, 1891.

m: NORM! Finns cm, wa -1mm, wlsumurou, n. c.

(No Model.) '3 Sheets-Sheet 3. R. W. SMITH 8:; H. L ARNOLD. I BOOK BINDERS MACHINE.

I Patented Mar. 31, 1891.

NITED STATES P TENT Oiuu'cn.

ROBERT IV. SMITH, OF NE\Y YORK, AND HORACE Il. ARNOLD, OF BROOKLYN, NEYV YORK, ASSIGNORS,-BY DIRECT AND MESNE ASSIGNMENTS, TO SAID ARNOLD. AND FERDINAND W. ROEBLING, OF TRENTON, NEIV JERSEY.

BOOK-BINDERS MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Application filed July 26, 1890- To aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, ROBERT W. SMITH and HORACE L. ARNOLD, citizens of the United States, residing at New York city,

county, and State of New York, and city of Brooklyn, county of Kings, State of New York,

have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Book-Binders Machines, fully described and represented in the following [0 specification and the accompanying drawings,

forming a part of the same.

This invention relates to a carrier adapted for use in book-binderies or other book-making establishments, havingautomatic means for grasping books,pamphlets, signatures, and the like in such manner that they may be subjected to the several successive operations necessary to prepare them for binding or covering or to bind and cover them.

lVhere the several operations involved in book-making are performed by hand, it is necessary in order to perform the work economically that each separate operation should be performed by a different operator, and it is therefore desirable that when the book, pamphlet, signature, and the like, which for convenience will be hereinafter called a book in this specification, is once clamped in position it should be firmly held in order 0 to prevent any disarrangement and supported in such a manner that it can readily be moved and presented to the different operators in proper position for the different successive operations, and where the work is performed in whole or in part mechanically, as by automatic devices, it is even more essential that the clamped book should be so supported that it can be presented in proper position to the several machines or mechanical deviceswhich perform the different operations successively, and firmly held in such position while the devices are operating upon it. The carrier-and its automatically-operating grasping device which form the subject-matter of the present invention are especially designed to meet these requirements, and as a full understanding of their construction and mode of operation can best be had by a detailed description thereof such description will now be Patent No. 449,595, dated March 31, 1891.

Serial No. 359,981. (No model.)

given, reference being had to the accompany- 5o ing drawings, forminga part of this specifica tion, in which- Figure 1 is a side elevation thereof, showing a means for imparting motion to the carrier. Fig. 2 is a plan view of the carrier and its automatic grasping devices, and Fig. 3 is a central vertical section of the same. Fig. 4 is an elevation of the preferred form of means for rotating the carrier intermittently. Fig. 5 is a horizontal section on line 5 5 of Fig. 4. Fig. (5 shows a modification.

Referring to said drawings, it is to be understood that the carrier B may be of any form that is adapted to carry the article to be operated upon into proper position for the different operators or to the different mechanical devices. In the present embodiment it consists of a flat horizontal table of circular form thatis adapted to revolve around a central support or pillar 103. For conven- 7o ience of construction, as well as to lighten the carrier as much as possible, it is made up of independent and flanged sections 50, that are each fastened to a horizontal flange on the upper end of a revoluble sleeve 105, that surrounds the stationary support 103, and the space between the outer ends of these sections is filled by a segment 51, that is bolted to flanges projecting from the sides of the sections 50, the whole forming a flat circular structure.

The carrier is provided with one or more automatic grasping devices (),which, as shown, are each formed by fixed and movable jaws 80 81, the said jaws extending at right angles to a radial line drawn from the axis of the carrier through their centers. In the present instance the carrier is provided with four such automatic grasping devices arranged therein at right angles to each other, al- 0 though less or more may be employed. The fixed jaw 80 of the grasping device is formed near the front or outer end of the section 50, and the movable one is formed by a horizontally-sliding plate that is guided to and from 5 the fixed jaw by bearings formed by the section. The movable jaw is also guided and held to its seat by the head of a bolt 10, the

shank of which passing through a slotted opening 1]. in thejaw istappcd into the body of the section.

Any means for automatically moving the movable jaw of the grasping device to open and close the latter may be employed; but in the preferred construction it is forced to its closed position by some yielding means,whereby the grasping device is adapted to grasp and hold books of varying thicknesses, and is moved positively to its open position. As shown, the movable jaw is acted upon by a spring-pressed plunger 88, that is mounted within a recess 80, formed in the section. The opening movement of the jaw is caused by alever 86, one end of which is mounted on a pivot- 87 in the section 50 and the other end of which has a lower shoulder that enters an opening in the rear of the jaw, this end carrying upon its upper facea roll 85. The jaw, lever, and roll are secured together by a bolt, the body of the section being slot-ted to permit the head of the bolt to pass and to allow the free movement of the lever and jaw. The lever 86 is rocked on its pivot to open the jaw by means of a cam Si, against which the roll of the lever will bear at the proper time to open the grasping device, and from which cam it will pass to permit the spring-pressed plunger to act to close the grasping device. This opening cam is formed on or secured to the under side of a horizontal plate or arm 10%, that is secured in a fixed position to the upper end of the stationary pillar 103. The arm overlies a portion of the carrier and sustains the cam at its outer end in position to act upon the roll of each of the levers of the movable jaws as they meet and pass it in succession upon the movement of the carrier. The effective length of the cam may be such as to hold the grasping device open fora period of time sufiicient to allow the book previously grasped to pass from its control and the book that is to be grasped to enter between the jaws or to open the device at a predetermined point in the movement of travel of the carrier to allow the book to enter between the jaws by a movement in dependent of the releasing movement. As illustrated, the opening cam is arranged in position to cause the opening of the grasping device ata definitepoint in the movement or travel of the carrier, holding the device open until the carrier arrives at or passes another definite point in its movement or travel and represented to be a little more than ninety degrees of the complete rotation of the carrier. The ends of the cam are flared out wardly, so that the opening and closing movement of the movable jaw will be had with ease and without jar. The movement of the carrier may be continuous or intermittent, and any means for imparting the desired movement may be employed. For a continuous movement there is shown a worm-wheel 107, secured to the lower end of the sleeve 105, that is in gear with a worm 108 on a driving-shaft 100, driven through a belt-wheel 174,

secured thereto. For an intermittent movement, which will generally be found most dosirable, we prefer to use the means shown in Figs. 4c and 5, being the mechanical movement covered by Letters Patent No. 377,133, gran ted to Horace L. Arnold, January 31, 1888.

As the construction and operation of this mechanism are fully set forth in the patent above referred to, a brief description here will suflice. The table B is carried by its sleeve 105, rotating on the standard 103, as previously described. A large gear is secured to the standard 103 below the sleeve 105. The worm 108 engages and drives the worm-gear 107, which is loosely mounted upon the standard below the gear 20. The worm-gear 107 is provided with an arm, the end of which carries a small stud, upon which is mounted a gear 23 of one-fourth the diameter of gear 20 and engaging the latter. The gear 23 is provided on its upper face with an arm 24-, which projects slightly beyond the edge of the gear, and is provided with a stud 25, which is connected by a link 26 to a stud 27, projecting from the under side of the table B. By this epieyclic train the movement of the table will be alternately accelerated and retarded, and with the special construction shown, in which the gear is one-fourth the diameter of gear 20, the table will be at rest four times during each complete rotation, as fully set forth in the patent. By varying the relative sizes of the gears 23 and 20 and shifting the location of the stud 25 relative to the pitch-line of the gears the movement of the table may be varied widely. In some cases itmay be desirable to employ a table having a movement in which the movement of the table is accelerated and retarded without bringing the table to a full stop, and such a movement we intend to include under the term intermittent movement.

\Vhile we prefer to use the devices just described for producing an intermittent movement, on account of the high rate of speed and smooth movement thus attained, it is evident that many other forms of mechanism may be used for this purpose. Thus we have shown in Fig. 0 a simple device consisting of a four-toothed ratchet-wheel 28, carried by the sleeve 105 and driven by a pawl 20, reciprocated by a crank 30 on a shaft 31, and other similar devices will readily suggest themselves.

In the operation of the carrier and the automatic grasping device ordeviccsillustrated suitable motion-rotary in this case-will be imparted to the carrier by the worm and worm-wheel described. In the position of the parts shown in Fig. 2 two of the grasping devices are in their open position, the movable jaw of each being held open against the force of its spring-pressed plunger 88 by the cam S-l, so that it may be supposed that the grasping device at the right-hand side of the carrier has just been caused to release its hold upon the book ithad grasped, while the other open grasping device is in position to receive a book between its jaws, and the other two grasping devices, having passed from beyond the control of the cam, are held in their closed position under the force of their springpressed plungers and may each be supposed to be grasping and holding a book and carrying it onward. Upon the movement of the carrier in the direction of the arrow2 the roll 85 of the movable jaw of the grasping device at the front of the figure will pass from the control of the cam and under the force of the springpressed plunger will automatically force the jaw toward its closed position, thereby firmly grasping the book that may have been entered between the jaws of that device to carry such book onward. The rolls S5 of the other open grasping device will be moving along the face of the cam, holding its movable jaw continually open-while it moves to the position recently occupied by the preceding grasping device. lVhile this is occurring the other two closed grasping devices, each with a book, have also moved forward, and the foremost one has reached and passed within the control of the opening cam, so that the roll 85 of this grasping devicehas met the flared end of the cam, being thereby gradually but positively moved inwardly until it has moved the movable jaw to its open position, releasing its hold upon the book that it has grasped and carried to that point and allowing it to pass or be taken from between the jaws and from the carrier, when the operation of automatically opening and closing the grasping devices as they each pass into and from the control of the cam will be repeated during the further rotation of the carrier.

It is to be understood that while the carrier illustrated rotates in a horizontal plane about a vertical axis it might with equal'effectiveness rotate in a vertical plane about a horizontal axis. So, too, the carrier instead of being formed with a continuous periphery, as shown, may be composed of one or more radially-arranged or otherwise disposed arms, each arm or pair of arms supporting a grasping device and adapted to move either in a horizontal or in a vertical plane. Furthermore, the carrier may be of any desirable form, so long as it is provided with one or with a plurality of automatically-operated grasping devices, and the direction of movement of the carrier may be varied from a rotary movement, if desired.

It is also to be understood that so far as the construction of the grasping device is concerned it may be varied to suit the exigencies of its use, and the particular automatic means by which the grasping device is opened and closed may be departed from within wide limits.

What is claimed is 1. A rotary book-carrier provided with an automatically-operated grasping device, substantially as described.

2. An intermittehtly-rotated book-carrier provided with an automatically operated grasping device, substantially as described.

3. The combination, with a rotary bookcarrier provided with a grasping device, of means for automaticallyopening and closing the grasping device, substantially as described.

4. The combination, with a book-carrier provided -with a grasping device, of means for rotating said carrierintermittently,and means for automatically opening and closing the grasping device, substantially as described.

5. The combination, with a rotary bookcarrier provided with a plurality of grasping devices, of means for automatically opening and closing each grasping device, substantially as described.

6. The combination, with a book-carrier provided with a plurality of grasping devices, of means for rotating said carrier intermittently, and means for automatically opening and closing each grasping device, substantially as described.

7. The combination, with a book-carrier provided with a plurality of grasping devices, of means for automatically opening and closing each grasping device in succession, substantially as described.

8. The combination, with a book carrier provided with aplurality of grasping devices, of means for rotating said carrier intermittently, and means for automatically opening and closing each grasping device in succession, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof we have hereunto set our hands in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

R. W. SMITH. HORACE L. ARNOLD.

Witnesses:

WALTER LONGSTAFF, ALBERT STEINLEIN. 

